Last trademark tidbit for this year’s Tour – we hear it throughout the race – the Maillot Jaune! The Yellow Jersey. The leader of the general classification, the overall leader of the race, wears the Yellow Jersey. En Français – le Maillot Jaune.

But, has anybody registered Maillot Jaune as a trademark with the USPTO? Or applied for it?

And, in 2007, Trek assigned that registration to the Societe du Tour de France. But, in July 2012, the Societe let the registration be canceled because no Section 8 declaration was filed.

That’s it. No other registrations or applications. However, somebody may have enforceable common law rights. From the USPTO Trademark FAQ:

What are “common law” rights? Federal registration is not required to establish rights in a trademark. Common law rights arise from actual use of a mark and may allow the common law user to successfully challenge a registration or application.

If you have questions about registrations, applications, or common law rights, let me know!

We’re 14 stages through the 2015 Tour de France! It has been a great race so far. No worries – I have no intention of providing spoilers for those of you who haven’t been able to watch all the stages yet. But, can we predict the GC winner based on the teams’ US trademark portfolios? Not likely, but let’s look anyway.

ASTANA PRO TEAM – Vincenzo Nibali
It doesn’t look good for Nibali. Astana currently has no trademark registrations or applications. Astana is at a bit of a disadvantage being named after the capital of Kazakhstan and sponsored by Samruk-Kazyna, a state-owned company from Kazakhstan.

TEAM SKY – Chris Froome
Being sponsored by a media and telecommunications company, BskyB, helps Froome a bit. I found 5 live registrations and 1 live application for BskyB. For example:

TINKOFF-SAXO – Alberto Contador
Contador is helped out by the support of Saxo Bank, a Danish investment bank. However, Tinkoff Bank doesn’t contribute at all. Saxo Bank has 9 live registrations, including: SAXO for

BMC RACING TEAM – Tejay Van Garderen
Tejay makes a bold move being supported by BMC Switzerland AG, a bicycle and cycling products company, which has 14 live registrations that I found. For “Bicycles and their parts; bicycle frames; bicycle saddles; handle bars for bicycles; bicycle rims; wheels for bicycles”, BMC uses:

MOVISTAR TEAM – Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas
The 2013 TdF challenger Quintana, if trademark portfolios were the determining factor, would ride away with this year’s tour. Supported by Movistar, a Spanish telecommunications company owned by Telefonica, S.A., which owns 46 live registrations and 3 live applications! For example, included in the portfolio is the recognizable M from the Movistar kits:

In honor of the start of the 2015 Tour de France, I thought I’d look for some fun, Tour-related trademark applications and registrations. The Societe du Tour de France owns applications and registrations for marks related to the Tour. For example, registrations include TOUR DE FRANCE for “Entertainment Services-Namely, Organizing and Conducting Races and Sporting Events” and TOUR DE FRANCE for “Books, namely, official books in the fields of tourism, history and bicycling, photograph books, souvenir books in the fields of tourism, history and bicycling and pop-up books in the fields of tourism, history and bicycling”.

As I was riding my rigid ss 29er on some of my favorite trails this past weekend, I was reminded of the value of suspension for increased traction and decreased fatigue. Trek’s IsoSpeed Technology has been slowly, and expectedly, working its way from their Domane endurance road line, through their Boone cyclocross line, and finally to their hardtail mountain line. In April, Velonews spotted IsoSpeed Tech on Trek hardtails at USA Cycling US Cup races (available here: USA Cycling), and BikeRumor reports spy shots of Trek’s new rides from the Nové Město World Cup races (full races: women, men) last weekend.

On October 14, 2014, the USPTO issued US 8,857,841 to Trek for their passive seat tube pivot joint, which is marketed as IsoSpeed Technology.

[T]he non-bonded rigid yet pivotable connection of seat tube 22 with upper frame member 100 allows deflection of seat tube 22 in a vertical plane and in a direction along the longitudinal length of the seat tube 22 so as to allow the frame assembly 12 to provide a limited degree of suspension performance or vertical compliance without altering the orientation of the connection points of any of the frame members relative to one another

The pivotable connection between the seat tube 22 and the upper frame member 100 (i.e., top tube) is shown in an exploded view in FIG. 5:

Trek states that the deflection should be nearly unperceivable during most riding conditions, but even absorption of small bumps by the frame in a mostly unnoticeable manner can greatly improve fatigue resistance and comfort when you’re spending hours in the saddle.

I am happy to see the industry dedicating resources to innovation specifically for bicycle tires. Much of the IP for tires appears to be associated with the trucking industry. However, in US 9,016,341, issued April 28, 2015, Continental has described a tire construction having a higher puncture resistance and a lower weight.

Marketed as the Vectran Breaker, Continental has a protection layer (the yellow layer in image below) disposed under the tread of the tire out of Vectran, a liquid crystal polymer described by Continental as polyester/polyarylate co-polymer.

Vectran forms filaments spun from molten liquid-crystal polymer, and Vectran has the following structure:

Filaments are spun to a diameter of less than 40µm, 30 or more filaments are used to make a thread, and then the threads are arranged parallel to each other to make the fabric Vectran Breaker.

Continental provides test results for comparing a single layer of their Vectran Breaker to a double layer of the conventional nylon fabric. As shown below in Table 1, their Vectran Breaker had higher resistance to perforation, lower weight, and lower rolling resistance.